1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to structural reinforcement in general and in particular to a method and apparatus for reinforcing adjacent roof trusses to each other.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of construction, it is often desirable to make a structure as strong as possible. The strength of a building is desirable for the purposes of load bearing ability as well as resistance to outside loads such as earthquakes, wind and other environmental loading.
In particular, roof construction is commonly formed of a plurality of planar trusses formed of wood metal or the like. One difficulty of such construction types is that the planar trusses, although strong in supporting vertical loads are relatively weak in resisting horizontal or shear loads by comparison.
Conventional methods of reinforcing trusses have not been adequate to resolve the above difficulties. Commonly, a sheathing or decking material, such as plywood is applied over the trusses to provide additional rigidity to such a structure. The use of decking material to provide needed strength for roof joists, although assisting with resisting forces to alter spacing between the trusses, does not provide a substantial degree of resistance to lateral loads such as experienced during some natural disasters, such as, earthquakes or windstorms.